This invention relates generally to high energy lasers, and, more particularly, to a laser system which incorporates therein a photon storage tube in order to increase the output pulse of a small repetitively pulsed laser into a high energy laser pulse.
Since the development of the first working lasers, considerable time and effort has been expended in the search for high power laser systems. The possible applications of high power lasers are unlimited in the fields of communication, manufacturing, construction, medicine, space exploration, energy, and defense.
The gas laser has grown out of the initial laser effort and is representative of one of the more sophisticated laser techniques which has the capability of providing very high power radiation output, due primarily to the large gas handling capability characteristic of such systems and due to the large quantity of energy which can be added to the gases flowing in such systems.
Unfortunately the larger the output energy pulse the larger, more complex, and costly the requirement for the laser system. In addition, with such large laser systems, the gain therein is so high that control of parasitic oscillations, which lead to runaway lasing in the devices, is an extremely severe problem.
Consequently, it is readily apparent that there exists the need for a high power pulsed laser which eliminates the problems associated with such high power lasers of the past.